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The real conversation for media companies, according to Hernandez, isn’t about websites and apps. It’s about audience and control.
Platforms like Facebook need the content—otherwise, they wouldn’t be courting publishers to the tune of millions of dollars. Publications need the targeted distribution those platforms can provide, especially since almost half of Americans regularly get their news from social media.
It’s a symbiotic relationship, not a zero-sum game. “Empires rise and fall,” Hernandez said repeatedly throughout our conversation. “No matter which empire or brand or platform is rising, it will eventually fall. But journalism will be a constant.”
Look at Twitter, which has mainstream cultural relevance but struggles bring in ad revenue and compete with other major social networks. That’s why it killed off its video platform Vine in late October (R.I.P., Vine—you’ve given us some great times).
Or look at Facebook, the largest social network in the world, which remains incredibly valuable and influential, but has started to take on a lot of criticism about political censorship, fake news stories, and inflated video engagement data. “The influence of Facebook, you can see cracks in it as Snapchat has started to amplify,” Hernandez offered. “Empires rise and fall. And who knows what’s next?”...
Empires rise and fall. So even though social platforms are powerful right now, WordPress is confident that the website has staying power.